Cigar-tip cutter



(No Model.)

I. O. O. RINEHART. CIGAR TIP CUTTER.

Patented Aug. 15, 1893.

F i g W/TNESSES: .4

Z a, ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IRA O. O. RINEHART, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

CIGAR-TIP CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 503,496, dated August 15, 1893.

Application filed July 13, 1892. Serial No. 439.912, [No model.)

To 60% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRA C. C. RINEHART, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Cigar-Tip Cutters, of which the following isa specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a small portable device to be set upon the counter or case of a cigar store, for cutting off the end of a cigar by the mere act of inserting said end into an opening in the case of the device.

My invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of an actuating mechanism, similar to that employed in a clock, comprising a coil spring or other actuating power, a revolving cutter operated upon by the spring, and an escapement with gears and trigger which is tripped by the entrance of the cigar tip, and serves to release the mechanism which holds the cutter and allows the latter to rotate and cut off the cigar tip as will be hereinafter fully described.

Figure 1 is an inside view of the case of the device with the case in section, the revolving cutter in place, and a part of the cutter broken away to show the coil spring behind the same. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the cutter and its attached parts removed. Fig. 3 is an edge View of the escapement and side of the case to which it is attached. Fig. 4 is an. inside face view of the same. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the device with a part of the case removed. Fig. 6 is a section through line a:0c of Fig. 5. Fig. 6 is a partial inverted plan view of the base A and cup B showing the pins for holding the same detachably in place. Fig. 6 is a partial outside view in perspective of the cup B.

In the drawings, A, represents the case of the device which is made of a cylindrical shape turned up upon its periphery and resting upon a hollow base A, to which it is attached, and upon which it is supported, and into which there is open communication from the case to allow the cigar clippings to pass to a receptacle contained within the base. B is this re ceptacle or cup which is made removable, and is locked to place in the base by means of pins a, and slot a in the edge of the cup, the latter being inserted above two of the pins, and the slot allowing the other pin to pass below the cup, after which the cup is rotated to turn the slot out of registration with the pm.

In one of the heads of the cylinder is a1 ranged a strong coil spring 13 of the kind used in clocks, one end of the spring being firmly anchored to the case at b, and the other to the winding shaft or arbor O. Where this shaft protrudes through the case it is provided, after the manner of clocks, with a winding key 0. Upon this shaft 0 in front of the spring is loosely hung the circular revolving cutter D, Fig. 2, which is made in the form of a disk with a series of inclined blades d at its periphery projecting at right angles to the disk. These blades are directly in the plane of and lie close to the two holes c c in the case, through either of which the cigar tip is inserted.

The cutter D is rigidly connected to the gear wheel E by a sleeve which surrounds the winding shaft, and against the face of this gear wheel there lies a ratchet wheel F which has a square perforation that fits the squared end of the winding shaft. This ratchet wheel is connected by a spring pawl f to the gear Wheel E, so that it rotates with it in one direction, but revolves with the winding shaft independently of it in the other direction. When the spring is being wound up this ratchet wheel turns with the shaft under the pawl, but when the strain of the spring is to be transmitted, the shaft, ratchet wheel, gear wheel, and cutter revolve together.

To the cutter there is imparted an intermittent motion at each insertion of a cigar tip, and for this purpose I provide an escapement with a trigger which is adapted to be moved, to set off the escapement, by the cigar tip. G is this trigger, which is a plate having a hub loosely turning 011 the sleeve of the cutter and having at its upper end two right angular pins or ends g which lie beneath and to one side of the openings in the case for the cigar tip, so that the insertion of the latter can only be effected by deflecting these pins and the trigger to one side. This trigger has an eye 72 that is hung upon a pin of the escapement. This escapement is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and Z is the pin upon which the eye 7t is hung. This pin project-s laterally from a detent t, which is hung on a stem or post projecting from the case head and is normally held up by a. spiral spring Io against a. stop p111 1n.

I1 is a rotary escapement disk having a. small gear or. on its rear side that meshes with a large gear 0, which in turn has rigidly attached to its rear side another small gear 19 that meshes with the large gear wheel E of the cutter sleeve.

On the face of the escapement disk H is a small lugr which stops against the end of the detent t' and holds the main coil spring from running down. The end of this detent is, however, notched on the side next to the disk, so that when said end is brought down slightly, the lug 4" no longer is held, and it passes (from the tension ot the main spring) through the notch in the detent and, making a complete revolution strikes against, and is stopped by the depressed upper end of the detent; and when the detent is released, it rises and the lug r then drops to its normal resting place against the lower edge of the detent ready to be released again by the next depression of the detent.

The depression of the detent is effected by the lateral movement of the trigger G when the cigar tip is inserted, so it will be seen that when a cigar tip is inserted in one of the holes of the case, it forces aside one of the pins of the trigger, the trigger depresses the detent of the escapernent, and the power of the main spring is expended in moving the cutter the space of one blade under the opening, thus cutting oit the cigar tip, and when the cigar is cut the detent of the escapernent moves back again, from its spring, arresting the further motion of the gears, and also throwing the trigger pins under the openings in the case again. I use two openings in the case, and two trigger arms, one opening being made for large and the other for small cigars, but it is obvious that a single opening could be used. I may also provide any other equivalent power for the spring.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a, cigar end cutter the combination with an actuating spring, a cutter disk, a case having an opening for the insertion of a cigar,

and a trigger arranged beside said opening to be deflected by the cigar end, of an independent rotary escapement disconnected from the trigger, and a detent connected to the trigger and operating upon the escapement substantially as shown and described.

2. In a cigar end cutter, the combination with an actuating spring, the case having an opening for the insertion of the cigar, and a centra1 shaft 0, of the disk D with cutting blades d and gear wheel E connected by a sleeve upon said shaft 0, the trigger G hung upon said sleeve and having pins projecting at right angles and lying within the cutter blades (1, the spring actuated detent i hung to the trigger and having notched end, the escapement disk H with lug r, and the gear wheels 0% 0 p connecting the disk to the gear Wheel E of the cutter disk substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination in an automatic cigar end cutter, of a case having ahollow base A with pins a at its lower edge, and a removable cup or receptacle 13 corresponding in shape to said hollow base and contained within the same, and having'in its edge a slot a to permit the cup to be passed above the pins a and then be locked by turning substantially as shown and described.

4E. The combination of the case A, with opening e, the coil spring B, shaft 0, cutter disk D, with blades d and gear wheel E, ratchet Wheel F with pawl f, trigger G, and the escapement consisting of Wheels n 0]), disk H, with lug r, and notched detent 1' connected to the trigger, substantially as shown and described.

IRA C. O. RINEHART. Witnesses:

W. H. REEVES, EDW. N. BYRN. 

